The capital and main city of Edyrea — from certain angles, the most beautiful city in the world, with the queen’s keep, Wyrmrest, at its top (e05 00:08).
Details
The city
Wyrmrest, the queen’s keep, sits at the top of the city, behind three rings of wall, massive towers and fortifications, and gates that seem mostly unused, because so few come in or out (e05 00:08, e05 00:08, e05 00:08). The largest fortification, the Watchtower, is the Queen’s Guard barracks, and the only tower taller than Wyrmrest (e05 00:08, e05 00:08). To its west is Beau Monde, on a ridge behind its own wall; past that, the castle district and Central spill downhill in marble and gold leaf, with clean roads and 200 years of peace, broken up only by the eclectic temple district (e05 00:08, e05 00:08, e05 00:08, e05 00:08).
Past Central, the money runs out fast (e05 00:08):
- Merchant Row — one long street of awnings and carts pressed against the wall where Central stops; the Queen’s Guard walk it in pairs collecting stall fees (e05 00:09, e05 00:09).
- Bayside — salt, scrap wood, rope, and shipwrights (e05 00:09, e05 00:09).
- The canal — the Guild Hall sits at its head, with weapon- and armorsmiths, essence surveyors, and the loot tax office (e05 00:09, e05 00:09).
- The Stacks — piles of tenements (e05 00:09, e05 00:09).
- Old Wriem — a city beneath the city, where it isn’t very safe to go; Caspian calls it real bad, with overflow monsters (e05 00:09, e05 00:46).
- The South District — above the canal, a dozen little cities with their own shops, often self-policing, because a Queen’s Guard patrol is rarely a good thing (e05 00:09, e05 00:09).
- Trade Alley — not slum level, but not nice either; black-market business goes on there and in the Stacks (e05 00:46, e05 01:00).
Also named are Crown Central Bank, the West market with its job board, and the temple of the Postmaster, which handles the city’s mail (e05 00:09, e05 00:19, e05 00:28). For a lot of people here, weird things happen all the time, and they aren’t much bothered by them (e05 00:52, e05 00:52).
Overview
Wriem is seated by the God-Queen Landaluce, the only pure-blooded Transcendent who resides physically on Edyrea (e00 02:07). Beneath Wriem lies Underwriem, part of The Forgotten Depths, where essence crystals are mined (e00 01:43).
Beau Monde, a large enclave within Wriem, is home to most of the city’s metamortals, functioning as a second capital specific to them (e00 02:07).
The richest residents of Wriem have died and been resurrected into new bodies many times over, funded by essence taken from the deepest parts of the city and the Forgotten Depths (e00 01:46).
A fissure opened in a closed-off city street in Wriem; a barrier over the crack was dispelled so the Nightforge guild and Orrin could descend into the Forgotten Depths below (e01 00:11, e01 00:12, e01 00:15). See Fissures.
Coming back up, the party found a very large city, with stores, shops, and carts stretching as far as they could see (e02 01:09, e02 01:09). A square collapsed into the fissure, building-sized moon goblins climbed out through it, one stepping over a bell tower, and Mikhail Asimi killed one in the street (e02 01:10, e02 01:12, e02 01:13). Orrin names neighborhoods the others can claim as home, including Jovent Square and Mirth’s Way, which he calls a rough part of town (e02 00:54, e02 00:54, e02 00:54). The east side is the merchants’ quarter, the commercial side of town (e03 01:21, e03 01:21).
The moon goblin attack
As moon goblins rampaged, the town square around the original descent caved into a giant crevice, bells rang, and crowds fled while the Queen’s Guard tried to direct them (e03 00:09, e03 00:16, e03 00:25, e03 00:25). Matilda‘s herbalist shop fell into the crevice, and an arcanery packed with essence crystals exploded, destroying several buildings (e03 00:59, e03 01:00, e03 01:03). A large stone chapel, boarded up from inside, held when the giant moon goblin fell against it, a faint shimmer of magic around it (e03 01:08, e03 01:24, e03 01:24). Nearby is a mini wizard’s tower holding a large library, whose staircase is passable to its owner only at night (e03 01:24, e03 01:26, e03 01:30). Willy’s Wards, a tavern to the north, was called probably the only safe place (e03 01:05). See e03 – Kaiju City Battle: First Responders.
According to Willy, attacks like this are a yearly or twice-yearly occurrence: Wriem gets smashed by some monster or kaiju villain far more often than you’d think (e04 00:24, e04 00:24); Arleana says it happens more than you’d think, but usually not so close to the shopping quarter (e04 00:43). Afterward, the Queen’s Guard went house to house searching for anti-essence beings who escaped the fissure into the city (e04 00:28, e04 00:30). The Hollowing Plague is being kept secret there; if word spread that it was in Wriem, it would grow powerful very fast (e04 00:14).
Relationships
- Fissures — one opened in a Wriem street.
- Mikhail Asimi — seen fighting in its streets.
- Willy's Wards — a tavern in the north of the city.
- Matilda — a healer whose shop fell into the crevice.
- Edyrea — the continent Wriem is the capital of.
- Landaluce — rules from Wriem.
- Beau Monde — the metamortal enclave within Wriem.
- The Forgotten Depths — lies beneath the city, via Underwriem.
Episode history
- e00 (00:18) — introduced as Edyrea’s capital.
- e01 (00:12) — a fissure opens in one of its streets.
- e02 (01:09) — the party reaches its streets; moon goblins break out through a collapsed square.
- e03 (00:09) — the moon goblin attack on the city; the arcanery explosion; Willy’s Wards.
- e04 (00:24) — said to be attacked yearly or twice yearly; the Queen’s Guard searches it.
- e05 (00:08) — the city described district by district.